Since Trump announced DeVos as his pick for the Education Department’s secretary, survivors of sexual assault and allies have worried what it meant for the movement to end campus sexual violence. Unfortunately, it seems that their worst fears are being realized—especially in light of DeVos’s pick for the head of ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Candice Jackson. Jackson’s anti-feminism and beliefs in “reverse racism” makes her a particularly confusing and terrifying pick. Teen Vogue explains:
Raising concerns about how the federal government will continue to handle campus sexual assault and other civil rights issues, the U.S. Department of Education this week appointed a new acting secretary for civil rights who has spoken out against feminism, criticized programs designed to assist people of color, and dismissed those who have accused Donald Trump of sexual violence as “fake victims.”
We live in a society where most victims of sexual assault are too afraid to share what happened to them. Hiring a woman who’s publicly called survivors of sexual assault “fake victims” to head the investigations into the potential mishandling of sexual violence cases does not bode well.
This hire adds more insult to injury since DeVos has refused to meet with anti-rape advocates and experts like the National Women’s Law Center, Clery Center, SurvJustice, and the Victim Rights Law Center. We could argue that she’s just really busy dismantling the institution of American public education, but it doesn’t seem quite right—she’s found time to meet with Republican Georgia state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, who tried (and fortunately failed) to push an unpopular bill that would allow even more campus rapists to go free.
DeVos’s meeting with the crusader for campus rape culture (Earl Ehrhart) didn’t go unnoticed by the advocates she snubbed; the National Women’s Law Center and allies penned a letter to Secretary DeVos detailing just how awful Ehrhart is.
Through the years, Representative Ehrhart has evidenced his disdain for survivors. During legislative hearings on his unsuccessful bill, he called Grace Starling, a victim who bravely testified about her experiences, a “spoiled child” and “snowflake.” He also accused her of “utilizing a victim’s status” for ulterior motives. Additionally, he has introduced personally identifying information about young survivors during legislative hearings, putting those survivors at risk for retaliation. Representative Ehrhart has further campaigned against student victims’ rights by suing the U.S. Department of Education under a theory that his stepson might someday be accused of rape.
I’m sure this isn’t news to DeVos; if we can read between the lines, we can likely guess that she doesn’t really care.
